What to do with 10 hours in LA?

Hi,

Me and my girlfriend will be arriving in LA on a Sunday in September at 3 pm and leaving again at 1 am. We want to go on an open top bus tour, a walk around venice beach and if possible go out to Torrance to stare at the High School and go ';Ooooh an American high school';.

Should we go to Venice beach before the bus tour? None of the open top bus tours seem to go by there. We also want to walk down past the chinese theatre and the walk of fame and stuff. Do we have enough time?

I fear we will be in quite a rush and then as soon as darkness hits will suddenly have nothing to do. What can we do in the evening that isn%26#39;t going to a club?

We will be arriving and leaving by train. How safe will it be going down to the Amtrak station at night? Would we be better off going at 10pm and drinking in a bar until our train leaves?

Sorry for the mess of questions. Would really appreciate any input!

thanks a million.

What to do with 10 hours in LA?

Save Hollywood and Walk of Fame for late night, then at midnight you can take the metro subway down to Amtrak.

Have you found a tour that will start as late as 4pm on a Sunday? Perhaps you can find a tour that will drop you in Beverly Hills or Santa Monica if not Westwood, at least you will be closer to the beach.

Hollywood High School is close to the Walk of Fame, but doesn%26#39;t look like a typical American high school. Torrance would be a ridiculous $$$ cab ride and waste of time.

What to do with 10 hours in LA?

Union Station/Amtrak is perfectly safe at night, so no worries about that.

Scratch Torrence off your schedule as it is far away from any of the other points of interest in your schedule.

If you want to see a High School, well, while in Venice Beach, there is Venice High School which is famous for being the backdrop in a lot of movies

I am assuming that you will be checking your luggage with Amtrak for the day.

Venice is at the extreme western edge of our city (which is very spread out). By public transit, it would take 1 hour, 15 minutes to transfer from the bus plaza behind Union Station (where your train will arrive) to Main Street %26amp; Grand in Venice. The beach is a 2 block walk from there (west, about 2 minutes). Look for the #33 MTA bus in the bus plaza. Ir usually pulls into parking space #6. The fare is $1.25 per person, each way or buy a $5 DAY PASS from the driver for unlimited rides on the metro buses and metre rail for the day. This will also give you the convenience of not having to fumble for change for each bus/metro rail ride.

Assuming you spend 2 hours in Venice, you will have used up 4 hours, 15 minutes by:

1. transferring to Venice from Union Station (1 h, 15 m)

2. time in Venice (2 h)

3, transferring to Hollywood (1 h)

You will arrive in Hollywood around 7:30. The last ';open top bus tour'; departs from the Chinese Theater in Hollywood at 5 pm so you will either need to give up on the idea of riding that bus or go to Hollywood first and then go to Venice. The disadvantage of going to Hollywood first, followed by Venice is that the bus trip from Venice to Union Station is apt to be late (the buses are notoriously behind schedule) whereas the metro rail between Union Station and Hollywood is quite prompt (and runs more frequently).

So, if you opt for Hollywood first, then Venice, give yourself plenty of time to return to Union Station or take a taxi from Venice to Union Station (about $40 or $50).

Use MTA.NET for bus and metro rail schedules. Follow the examples in the upper right corner of their home page to enter starting and ending points of your trips.

I think the #33 and # 333(express)goes directly from Union Station to Venice Beach(and Santa Monica) and runs fairly frequently

Hey as a Torrance High alum I take offence to the the ';waste of time'; comment!

If you were planning on hanging out in Manhattan and Hermosa Beach for the day instead of venice then I would recommend that you take the 15 minute drive to check it out but I agree that Venice High is a good alternative.

The open top, ala double decker, bus tour that I took starts/ends at the Chinese Theatre and goes as far as Mericle Mile. (La Brea tar pit, etc.) I think it will take a couple of your hours.

The Metro can take you straight from Union to Highland. no train to Venice.

Wile in Venice, you can check out Santa Monica nearby.

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